Holic
by MsMonochrome
Summary: "There are no such things as accidents in this world brat, it was fate that made you come here and fate that made you meet me. This place, by the way," Levi added. "Is a shop, wishes are granted here, for a price."
1. Chapter 1

I was having a really shitty day, it started with me oversleeping and missing the bus, then only got worse when I saw the big, red "F" on the test we'd taken last week. I was in for it this time, Mikasa would have my head when she found out, and then she'd insist on a two-hour long study session with Armin so I could understand the fundamentals of proofs. It wasn't like I cared though, proofs were the worst thing ever created that could still be called math, I'm sure I could get them if I actually tried, but there was no chance of that happening.

The teacher felt the need to talk to me personally to see if there was anything wrong, and I hated it when teachers did that. It wasn't bad enough that my parents had died a little over a year ago, but everyone had to keep bringing it up and reminding me of how shitty my life was. I didn't need special treatment from anyone, not from my classmates, not from my teachers, and especially not from my friends. It would be nice if I could go back to being an average kid, but there was no chance of that happening.

Ever since the accident I've been seeing things, strange things, like one time last week I saw this giant eel make its way through the air, swerving around people, and no one else noticed it. Eels aren't the only thing I see, most of the time it's people, really creepy looking people, some don't have heads, others are drenched in blood, their limbs bent at odd angles. All these... creatures had a few things in common; one: I was the only one who could see them, and two: they all had some buzzard fascination with me. Once the things catch me looking at them they come after me, but not as if they want to check if I can see them, it's more like they think I'm food. And it's scary.

I confided in two people, Mikasa and Armin, about how I was seeing strange things, and Armin let it slip one day at school, and it's part of the reason I'm now known as "that weird kid," mostly because one time I found this weird purple blobby monster in my locker and freaked out, but since no one else could see the thing, it looked like I was crazy. This has lead to me being beat up on a number of occasions, like today for instance.

"Hey Yeager!" My tormentor greeted me with a friendly knee to the gut after school, knocking me to the ground and taking the breath from my lungs. "See any monsters today?" Before I had a chance to react someone else had kicked me in the ribs and I struggled to breathe as another bully picked me up and held my arms behind my back.  
"I think he's faking that shit for attention, you should have seen the way Stevens was talking to him after geometry, it was like he was some tragic hero. Pathetic."

I kinda zoned out after that, the beating they gave me hurt but if I didn't react they'd stop eventually and I'd be free to go home and patch myself up. I used to fight the bullies at the beginning, but that only ended up with me getting an even worse beating since there were three of them and one of me. Going limp seemed to be the best option I had.  
It only took a short amount of time today, I was dumped on the ground after less than half an hour of torment, maybe they were finally getting bored of me? I waited until I could no longer hear their voices before getting up and starting to walk towards the apartment complex I was allowed to live in, limping slightly.

Halfway through my usual route home I spotted a huge, black shape with many eyes blocking the street I normally turn onto and it looked like I would be taking a detour today. I had only taken a few steps before I felt like I was being watched, and a single glance behind me revealed that the black thing had spotted me and was now following me. Wonderful.

I picked up the pace, occasionally checking to see if the thing was following me, to which the answer was always yes. I had no idea where I was anymore, I was just trying to lose the creature but I was failing, it was catching up. Finally I broke into a run, going as fast as I could in a last attempt to ditch the thing, I glanced over my shoulder and immediately ran into a fence, bouncing off it and landing hard on the street.

I heard giggling nearby and looked around to see the source of it, noticing that the black creature had mysteriously vanished. A girl with orangish-blond hair stood at the gate, one hand over her mouth to hide the fact that she was laughing at me. I hastily got to my feet and brushed the dirt off me, ashamed to have been caught in such an embarrassing position.

"Where are my manners?" The girl asked herself, smiling at me. Welcome to the shop, please come inside, no doubt the master is waiting."

"Sorry, I'm not a customer." I stammered, raising my hands in defense and examining the building I now stood in front of. It was old fashioned and had to be at least a hundred years old, probably more, with two stories, a wrap-around porch, and a balcony. Despite it's obvious age it was well taken care of, no paint was peeling and the flowerbeds were well maintained.

Rather than listening to my protests the girl grasped my hands in hers and dragged me towards the house, calling to someone else and telling them to inform their master that a customer had arrived. I tried to take in the interior of the house, which seemed to be filled with an endless assortment of items, all of which were spotlessly cleaned and organized. Finally I was unceremoniously shoved into another room where I fell to my knees, confused as to what the hell just happened.

"You look like shit kid." A deep voice drew my attention gland fact that I was not the only person in the room, a man was sprawled out on a large, old looking couch, his gray-blue eyes fixed on mine. He was dressed as though he were going to a costume party, what was the style called again? Steampunk? Maybe he was just matching the style of the house.

The man wore a black tailcoat under which was a dark green vest, his sleeves were lacy and at his neck was one of those cravat things, grey pants and black knee-high boots completed the outfit. He held a strange sort of pipe, one with a long stem out of which he took a puff from every so often. His hair was black and styled in an undercut, and dark shadows were under his eyes.

"Did you hear what I said, brat?" The man asked me, his voice sounding irritated when I hadn't answered him. I shook my head slowly, feeling sweat break out on my palms.

"No sir, I'm sorry." I replied nervously, wiping my hands on my pants.

"I said you look like shit."

"I'm sorry...?"

"That's not the reason you're here though, although the two are related." He paused to take a puff on his pipe, breathing the smoke out in my face so my eyes began to water.

"I'm here by accident" I told him, starting to get frustrated with how I was being treated. "Your friend dragged me inside, where is here anyway? Where am I?"

"There are no such things as accidents in this world brat, it was fate that made you come here and fate that made you meet me. This place, by the way," another puff on the pipe. "Is a shop, wishes are granted here, for a price."

I sat there, stunned by what I'd just heard. Could this shop actually grant wishes? Maybe I'd just passed out while getting beat up and this was all some bizarre delusion my addled brain had created. "I don't believe you."

"Fine, don't believe me, but tell me your name anyway."

"Eren Yeager."

"Your last name means hunter, a good name, symbolic in a way. Your birthday?"

"March 30th."

"Ares then, I should have known."

"Tell me yours now."

"... You can call me Levi. I am the proprietor of this shop, and if you came in here it means that you have a wish you want granted." The man, Levi, rose to his feet and snapped his fingers, instantly a door opened and the girl who'd dragged me in here poked her head in.

"Petra, I'm going to do some scrying, get my things if you please." The girl darted out and returned with a glass bowl and a pitcher of water, both of which Levi took from her and she left the room in a hurry, leaving me alone with this strange man once more.

Levi poured the water into the bowl and held his hand over the still water. "Eren Yeager, March 30th." He murmured, and suddenly ripples appeared in the water, and the man stared at them hard, his face still expressionless, but I could tell all his attention was focused upon the bowl. When the water was still once more he looked up at me.

"You are quite the troubled kid, Eren Yeager, to have your parents die at such a young age, but I see you're making the best of your situation. Your neighbors must be kind."

"How did you..."

"I saw it, moving on," Levi interrupted, waving his hand at me. "The real issue that's troubling you is this, you see spirits, don't you?"

I frowned at him and started laughing. "Me? See spirits? I don't know what you're talking about. How is that even possible?"

"There's no use lying to me, I know the truth, you've seen them ever since the accident that took your parents' lives." Another puff on the pipe. "This is because you temporarily crossed over into the land of the dead, which awoke the latent power you already had inside you, this power in your blood makes you see the spirits and attracts them to you. To them you're a tasty bit of food they can't wait to gobble up."

"Is there any way to make me not have that kind of stuff happen?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"This is a shop that grants wishes kid, of course I can do that for you, it will cost something though." The man stared sideways at me, looking expectant.

"I don't have any money."

"Good, because I haven't got any use for the stuff, besides buying liquor really. What I take from my customers depends on the wish, it could be a soul, it could be their hair, it could be luck. Anything is possible really."

"Do you want my soul?" I asked nervously.

"You don't understand what I mean by soul, it refers to the thing a person cherishes most, it could be an item, it could be a relationship. You have nothing like that so there's no need to take it. Your wish is getting granted though, I can most definitely do that."

"Wait, I haven't said I wanted you to grant it!"

"Too late, the bonds of fate have started moving, we are connected you and I, and your whole world is going to change."

I really didn't like the way he looked at me then, with those piercing gray eyes that seemed to stare right through me. That and his unnatural calmness weirded me out to the point where I was praying that this was some sort of trick or illusion.

"Is there any way we can not be connected, because I really want to have nothing more to do with you in any way." I stood up and headed for the partially open door behind me only to have it slam in my face by some unseen force.

"You're not done yet," Levi said, his attention focused on that weird pipe of his. "We have to discuss the issue of payment first."

I scowled at him, annoyed by the mess I was in. "If you don't want my soul what do you want?"

"You will work here in order to have your wish granted, when I feel that you've done enough is when I'll actually grant it."

And that was how I was tricked into working for Levi. The rest is history.

* * *

Yes, if you couldnt tell by the title, this is inspired by the manga xxxHolic, which I highly reccomend.

I wrote this yesterday because I had the idea but I'm not sure if I should bother continuing it. It'd end up being Eren/Levi because I am a sucker for that pairing.

Should I continue this?


	2. Chapter 2

"You call that clean? That vase is still dusty, go over the whole shelf again!" Levi, my tyrant-slash-midget of a boss, yelled at me again even though I'd already dusted the same shelf five times already. It was only my first day on the job and I'd thought up seven different ways of murdering him, he was just that annoying.

I wished he wasn't so handsome, that would make him just so much easier to hate, but he just has to have these gorgeous blue-gray eyes that shine with a mischievous light every so often. This happened when he came up with the brilliant idea that I should clean every of the billion store rooms in the house for some unknown reason.

"You and I must see things differently because these things look spotlessly clean to me." I glanced at some bizarre contraption on one of the bottom shelves, two rectangular things that seemed to hold swords without handles, attached to a leather harness with a bunch of other straps. I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of purpose such an object to have, but Levi had made me polish the straps with something that smelled bad.

"Why do you have all this junk?" I asked the man, trying to avoid looking at his perfect cheekbones, not to mention the outfit he wore today was a kimono that showed off his sculpted chest. Was he trying to drive me insane?

"I'd appreciate you not calling it that, this 'junk' was important enough to people for them to use it as payment for my services, these items should be treated with respect, so be careful when handling them." My boss rolled his eyes as though my question was so stupid I shouldn't have even bothered to ask it.

"What's this thing then?" I asked, pointing at the boxes with straps.

"It's called three-dimensional maneuver gear and it's very useful on the world it came from, the citizens there use it to fight giant monsters called titans, which threaten their society." Levi inhaled deeply on the pipe, seemingly deep in thought.

I was stunned by what he'd just said and couldn't refrain from exclaiming my astonishment. "Wait, there are things in here from other worlds? Are you saying that other worlds actually exist?"

"Of course other worlds exist, if humans were the only intelligent species that existed I think I'd cry. Think of it like a book brat, each of the pages are different worlds, separate yet connected. My shop is a place where travelers from any number of worlds can visit, therefore I am given a number of items from anywhere and everywhere."

"I'm sorry humanity disappoints you then." I couldn't help being a little bit insulted by his words, I was human after all.

"It's not that humanity disappoints me, it's that most of you are so goddamn blind that you can't see the obvious when it's right in front of your faces. Unless you are the one to witness something, if you merely hear about it, whatever that something is doesn't actually exist. Fucking stupidity is what really annoys me."

"I'm not going to apologize for that. People are fucking stupid."

"No need, I don't include you in the category of 'normal humans'"

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." I grinned at my boss for the first time. At least we agreed on something.

"Don't get used to it brat." Levi rolled his eyes but I swear I saw him give me a small smile. Maybe working here wouldn't be all bad.

* * *

"Yeager!" A shrill voice woke me up out of my dreams and I sat up, one side of my face coated in drool that had collected in a pool on the desk. "If you're so desperate to catch up on sleep I suggest you go to the nurse's office rather than disrupt the class with your snoring."

I turned crimson, and sat up straighter in my chair, wiping my cheek off and staring at the initials carved into the desk. I'd had a hard time falling asleep the night before thanks to what Levi told me, about other worlds and how he had items from a good number of them. After hearing that I was much more careful about cleaning, handling each object with care so as not to break anything irreplaceable.

My mind couldn't stop imagining what other worlds would be like and I'd ended up falling asleep much later than I usually do, hence my nodding off in class. Thankfully lunch was right after English and I could refuel while telling Mikasa and Armin about what I'd heard, well, sorta.

Levi had forbidden me to tell anyone what his shop actually was, as far as anyone "normal" knew it was just an antiques store, although apparently I was the only one who could find it. Apparently there was a ward on the fence that prevented everyone except those who needed the shop's services from seeing it.

It had taken me a while to get to my apartment that first night, seeing as I had no idea where I was and no knowledge of how I had gotten there. In the end Levi had given me a compass which would take me home in exchange for extending my "sentence." By the time I was finished working for Levi I would most likely be dead.

* * *

"How's the job going?" Armin was first to bring up the subject, Mikasa thought Levi was a jerk because I'd told her that he'd made me work there because I broke something. It was a good enough excuse for now, and I'd figure out something like "he's keeping me on as an assistant" in order to explain why I would still be there months or years from now.  
"It's a lot of work so far, Levi made me clean one of the storage rooms and it took forever to get it good enough for him. He's such a clean freak it's ridiculous."

"I hate that midget," I had informed both my friends of Levi's shortness just so they wouldn't think there was some huge guy forcing me around. "How much longer do you have to work there?"

"I'm not really sure, the vase I broke was really expensive apparently, It could be a while."

* * *

And so the routine began, school five days a week, then, if I managed to avoid the bullies, straight to Levi's where I was forced to clean, cook for him, or bring him liquor. He was like a sponge, I had no idea how he could drink so much and still command me around as usual, most people would have been sick after consuming that much alcohol.

Occasionally I would see Levi deal with customers, the first being a girl who wouldn't stop lying, and eventually her bad habit killed her. My boss didn't seem to find that interesting whereas I did, I found all his customers fascinating. Most often he would give them an item from one of the many storerooms and they would leave, some returned if the problem hadn't gone away, and some I saw in the newspaper, their faces in the obituaries section. I asked him once if there was anything we could to prevent their deaths and he just replied with "I can only do so much, if they refuse to put the effort in there's not much I can do about it. I can't interfere in their futures, what will happen is preordained, and I have no control over the lives of others, only they do."

"Levi, do you know what will happen to me? In my future?" I asked him, my voice shaking.

"Bits and pieces, it's not very clear though, you are harder to read than most people." He took a sip of wine and glanced up at me. "Be careful of those who think poorly of you."

* * *

I was packing up my things from school when I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced up to see it was none other than my least favorite tormenter. He placed a thick hand on my back and steered me towards the courtyard no one visited anymore, where there wouldn't be any witnesses.

Once we'd arrived in the small, walled in area that had been constructed while the school was undergoing renovation I found myself being backed into a corner, where I was promptly punched in the stomach. There was nowhere to run to and I was no match for three burly football players; I did my best to block and parry their attacks but it only made them more determined to beat me unconscious. With a blow to my leg that forced me to the ground I was then hit by an uppercut and found everything turn fuzzy, another punch, this time to my temple and I blacked out.

* * *

I kinda suck, leaving things off there. On the bright side I've already started the next chapter, so that should be up in the next few days if not today. Just reminding you that this is an ereri story, so keep that in mind while you wait.

I did make Levi a drunk like Yuko because I couldn't resist, I'm trying my best to incorporate elements of xxxHolic into this while still making it an original story. That's why Levi smokes a weird pipe, wears a different outfit every day, and has a deep love for booze. Petra and the other members of Squad Levi are basically like Maru and Moro, but it's mostly just Petra because she can do a lot on her own.

The bullies will remain nameless because they're not canon characters, ergo not important to me. I don't want to add oc's into this except maybe for the customers, and they'll all remain nameless. Because reasons.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed this story, it means a lot to me that people like it.


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